UKC

Currently on EE but considering a change to O2. What is phone signal like in the hills and general area on snowdonia and towards midwales? Thanks

I thing there will be coverage maps available from providers. A few years back I walked Offas Dyke Path and Glyndwrs Way and hardly had a signal even in sizeable towns like Machynlleth. I asked a young group there if they even had mobile phones. Would be interested to hear the latest situation.

Up high is generally pretty good. Down low is not good. Not sure re mid wales, I'd guess less.

I get reasonable signal on EE most places in Snowdonia apart from driving down the Ogwen valley. 

I do o+m on a fleet of wind turbines scattered around the edges of the park and the rest of Wales that all have 4g routers. Our experience has been that O2 coverage is pretty patchy compared to EE and 3.

I live in Bethesda and I'm on Vodafone. I get 4g in most places apart from the above which seems to be a bit of a black hole 

I'm on GiffGaff which is (mostly...) the O2 network, but a lot cheaper and I've been impressed with coverage, it really is as good as anyone can expect in a hilly area, even more rural parts like Moelwyns and further south are as good as I can expect. Even Ogwen valley I've had phone signal

That all said my primary navigation tools are map and compass (and bearings and pacing etc if needed). Data and/or GPS is very nice to have, but I don't rely on it in the hills (and hope you don't too)

You can download maps to use offline, and GPS does not require phone signal. No need to be a luddite. Will happily mitigate any argument you come up with.

Back to the thread: 3 is remarkably good, no signal in the blackspots above or PyP. Great signal in Mach, if that matters.

All I can really add is that I *left* O2 to EE in part due to the former's poor coverage in quite a few areas where my friends had solid 4G, such as Pembroke.

The other reason was that O2's data costs are astronomical and if I'm working remotely Remote Desktop eats any non-unlimited data allowance with a large spoon.

I'm on Vodafone too. I've found recently it's been pretty poor by the road in the llanberis pass (eg Cromlech boulders) but much better a couple of hundred metres up the sides.

yeah I get that and I use it myself, and comes in handy, I'm not a luddite but if your day is hours longer than expected (phone battery died), you're in a gully and can't get GPS or and it's horizontal rain I think oldskool skills kept up your sleeve (and occasionally practiced)  can bail you out. I'm not Nokia-man, don't panic

EE usually seems to have the best coverage up here in N Wales.

Good to see. Each has their place for sure - and a battery pack goes a long way to mitigate flat phone syndrome. The GPS thing is a fair point, but hopefully people aren’t *that* reliant on it (although I’m sure they are)

Offline maps and GPS uses a lot of battery.

I very occasionally use OS Locate to locate my position easily on a paper map....

I actually think they are pretty frugal on battery. I’ve tested it a few times and always been very pleasantly surprised.

The thing that will burn through battery is if your phone is struggling to get 3g/4g signal as it will be boosting power to the antenna. Stick it on flight mode and low power mode and a fairly long day of map use shouldn’t be a problem. 

On thd other hand if you're sitting in the car in the Ogwen Valley and want footy scores, weather, news , Internet anything your map and compass are a bit useless compared to good mobile coverage